An Open House

One of the goals of Speaker-designee Pelosi is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. Those intended reforms include plans to create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts.

An editorial in today's New York Times reads:

For all the worthy proposals for ethics reform being hashed out by the incoming Congress, a heavy dose of Internet transparency should not be overlooked in the effort to repair lawmakers’ tattered credibility. The technology is already there, along with the public’s appetite for more disclosure about the byways of power in Congress.

The Web is increasingly wielded by both campaign donors and bloggers clicking and tapping as wannabe muckrakers. Politicians would be wise to catch up. Local citizens were enlisted to track pork-barrel abuses in the last campaign by a new watchdog organization, the Sunlight Foundation, which enlisted Ms. Gillibrand’s disclosure pledge. It aims to have voters use the Internet as an engine of political information.

Much more than disclosure is needed to cure the Capitol’s ills — particularly some sort of independent agency to prod Congress to fully investigate corruption allegations. But prompt, searchable postings of basic data — from lobbyists’ itineraries and expenses to incumbents’ donor ties and legislative labors — should be part of any corruption cure. In the information age, this amounts to a modest proposal for a Congress truly intent on reform.

House and Senate Democratic Leaders are already exploring ways to utilize the tools of the digital age to facilitate greater openness and accountability. At RootsCampDC representatives from both Congresswoman Pelosi's office and Senator Reid's office held the first in a series of discussions to solicit feedback and recommendations on what Congress can do to achieve these goals. You can check out the notes from that discussion, here.

What ideas do you have? Add your suggestions in the comments.

Comments (2) «

My heart goes out to Senator Johnson and his family. But....

Time for the Dems to pull an Edith Wilson

1

Shelley on December 14, 2006 at 01:08 PM

It is truly a shame that we can't just expect and get openness and accountability, and morality, from OUR elected politicians, who owe their very existence to US.

My suggestion? Put cameras inside all of the back rooms. All of the committee chambers. Put cameras in every office. If politicians have to go to bathrooms to make deals, then they are where they belong.

We do not elect these bozos so that they can steal from us, lie about it to us, and then pass laws so that they don't have to own up to any transgressions. Let's get an Oath of Office for these people that has teeth in it!!!!!

2

Rally on December 14, 2006 at 09:39 PM

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